this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Technology

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Now, if only iOS would allow true Safari alternatives. 🥲

[–] [email protected] 71 points 2 years ago (3 children)

They'll soon be forced to allow sideloading, in the EU at least. Should open the doors for proper alternative browsers.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I loathe the very fact they made people call it "sideloading". It's just installing on your own terms, like it used to be the norm.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Well, it's a carry over from its early days in how it used to work. You needed to install things via USB debugger. Generally that's all sideloading ever meant, transferring information from one device to another using a generally "local" method (SD card, USB, etc). Now sideloading, on Android at least (as it retains its original meaning elsewhere), just means not from the official repository.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I just activated Windows 10 on a laptop I bought from ebay, and I was reminded that Microsoft too wants people to view its official store as the default way to obtain software.

One of my goals for this weekend is to set up a dual boot for Linux Mint, which I've never done before. I'm fully aware of its limitations, but I'm getting so tired of all this crap.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm not sure what Microsoft is attempting with S mode. Its just such a half baked concept to me. I'd rather a simplified group policy interface or something if they wanted simplified restrictions.

But yeah, dual booting is a great way to transition. You can also do Windows in a VM, but not sure how licensing works or if you can use an OEM license in there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It just seems much better for me to set up a dual boot. I know it's more work, but it's not like it's irreversible, and I think it would give me a better experience overall.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I hope you have fun! You can ask anytime for help, it's a great learning opportunity

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I have an old laptop that I'm planning to use to test different versions of Linux so I can get a feel for it. I will let you know if I have questions. I appreciate the kind offer!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I wonder what the alternatives to App Store will be called. F-Store? iDroid?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

They'd still be restricted to the Webkit rendering engine though, right?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you can sideload anything you want, why would that be the case? I don't think there's a technical limitation, they just don't allow it on the app store if it doesn't use safari.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

Oh that's true, I always thought iOS just didn't have that capability at all but that makes sense that it would just be blocked at the App Store level.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you can sideload an app there's nothing Apple can do to stop you from shipping a new rendering engine.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

They can still prevent the JIT from working because the resulting native code would not be signed. That would result in worse JavaScript performance in such browsers, but considering today's hardware and software optimizations, it may not matter that much in practice.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, but the point of the law is that apps that you install that are not from the official store actually have to work. It even has clauses so that installing stuff from different sources than Apple can't intentionally be a worse experience than the official app IIRC. That might be just for messaging though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I don't think they allow JIT in their App Store apps either.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Very sad that Firefox does not provide an .ipa file of firefox without webkit. Jailbroken, trollstore and altstore users could benefit of extensions before apple allows sideloading.